Never Set Me Free
by CheckerboardFan
Summary: [Hairspray] A PennyxSeaweed fiction but with a lot of Tracy and Link as well, just focussing more on Penny and Seaweed. It's about love, friendship, and when things happen, will the other member of the couple stay by the side? OR set them free?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello all! Thanks for stopping by and reading! This is my first Hairspray fanfiction so just bare with me please ). This might matter for the story so just so you know, in my mind I don't picture the Hairspray characters the characters from the movie, I picture the Broadway show characters. For example: Penny has red curly hair and Link has blonde hair. Just little things like that ). This is a PennyxSeaweed fic with TracyxLink making several appearances, but the main focus will be PennyxSeaweed.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights to Hairspray, if I did… I probably wouldn't be writing on this website hehe.

**Never Set Me Free**

It was 11:00 am on a beautiful Saturday summer afternoon. Seaweed had just picked Penny up from her house, away from her psychotic mother, and they were now walking toward Motormouth Maybelle's record shop. _The Corny Collins Show_ had been officially integrated for about a month, but that didn't stop some people from still hating blacks. If anything it made them hate blacks even more.

Hand in hand Seaweed and Penny made their way down the streets of Baltimore, they were going to be meeting Tracy and Link as well as others down at the record store to celebrate the one month anniversary of the integrated _Corny Collins Show_.

"So, you excited to get down and boogie tonight baby?" Seaweed asked Penny. Penny giggled and gave an honest answer, "Well, I don't know how good I can boogie but I'll sure try!"

Seaweed laughed and thought to himself. How did he get so lucky? Penny may not have the typical standard of what most people would call beauty, but she certainly was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his dark eyes on. Penny brought him out of his thoughts when she poked him in his stomach and said "Race you to Motormouth's!"

"Oh you're on little girl!" he added playfully. They were both running fast, not a care in the world. Penny was in the middle of crossing the street and didn't see the car coming silently speeding down the road. "Seaweed, come on!" she urged. Still, she didn't see the car and it was getting closer.

"Penny!" Seaweed screamed. This time it wasn't playful. He was panicked and ran out into the road to push her away from the car. The thankfully didn't hit Penny, but got Seaweed instead.

"Seaweed! No, no! Oh my gosh, help!" Penny screamed between sobs. "Seaweed! Please, no Seaweed!" She was frantic. The car had long since drove past them and there didn't seem to be any other cars coming. She though about carrying him but there was no way. She was small and he was much bigger than her, she wouldn't be able to get him two feet away. Just then a lime green car came trotting down the road.

"Help! Please! Stop! He's hurt please!" Penny screamed to the car.

The car stopped near the site and rolled down its window only to reveal Amber Von Tussle and Brenda, and Shelley.

"Oh look girls, it's Tracy Tugboat's loser best friend and her dead Negro boyfriend, what should we do?" said Amber.

"HE'S NOT DEAD! Please, Amber just help me". Penny pleaded with her. Her crying didn't die down.

"Let me think, no! Why should I help some smelly negro who helped sabotage the _Corny Collins Show_?" she growled. With that, she, Brenda, and Shelley drove off giggling, leaving a distraught Penny behind.

"Seaweed, please wake up!" she yelled at him. Just then a blue car came down the road. A blue car she became familiar with the past month. It was Link's car.

"LINK!" she screamed. The car pulled over and Link and Tracy rushed over to Penny's side.

"Oh my God, Penny what happened?" Link said, very concerned as he examined Seaweed.

"A car! And then Amber and he's going to die! And.. and…" she couldn't form proper sentences. The hit and run replayed in her head. It would be Penny laying here not Seaweed, why did he have to save her?

"No, Penny he's not going to die, it's okay," said Tracy as she put her arms around her extremely shaken up best friend. "Link, the hospital isn't too far from here, do you think you'd be able to carry Seaweed into your car and take him there? Me and Penny will walk over and meet you, okay?" In the midst of saying this Link already began to take Seaweed and bring his limp form into the car. Before Tracy or Penny knew it, he was already driving toward the hospital.

"See Penny, he'll be fine," Tracy was really concerned. Sure she had seen Penny shaken up sometimes, but never like this. This was bad. It was worse than when her father left her mother all those years ago, and _that _was bad.

Penny couldn't say a thing. She _wouldn't_ say a thing. Though her sobs did prevent her from speaking, she wouldn't have been able to speak anyway, she was too overwhelmed by what just happened to her boyfriend.

"Penny are you okay?" Tracy asked. She realized she wasn't going to get anywhere, not now; Penny was just choking on her sobs. "Let's go Penny, we'll go the hospital and you could see him okay?" Tracy tried to sound as optimistic as possible. It was hard for her too. Here her best friend was in hysterics, her other friend hit by a car and in the hospital with no news about how he's doing, and your boyfriend, the only with him who doesn't even know as much about him as she or Penny.

Tracy managed to get Penny off the ground and walk her to the hospital.

"Trace, Penny, are you guys okay?" Link asked, concern in his voice as they sat in the waiting room with Motormouth. Link had called her once at the hospital and she was over in a flash.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Tracy answered with a small smile. Link looked from Tracy to Penny and back to Tracy. He was clearly asking "What about her?" though his question was silent. Tracy shrugged. The whole area was quiet except for Penny's crying which had only calmed down very, very little since the accident. People might wonder if it was her that was hurt. Thankfully Motormouth chimed in.

"Penny, honey come on, let's go get some water and calm you down baby," she said. She grabbed Penny's hand and together they walked down the halls toward the cafeteria leaving Tracy and Link in their wake.

"Tracy, I've never seen Penny like this! Is…is she gonna be okay?" Link asked as Tracy took a seat on one of the chairs.

"Oh Link, I don't know!" sadness took over her voice. She got teary eyed and tears began to drip down her face. She cried for Seaweed, she cried for Motormouth, she cried for Penny. Why did these things have to happen to such good people? "I've only ever seen her like this once before, and it still wasn't as bad as this! Link after you left I gave her a hug and she was shaking. She was shaking uncontrollably! I just want her to be alright" Tracy finished.

"Oh, little darling cheer up," Link began, "I'm sure she'll be fine. Right now though, I think the focus should be on Seaweed, he's gonna need us babe".

He was right, but he didn't realize just how Penny was going to need them too.

**A/N: So? What did you think? It's a little on the short side and I promise that will change with future chapters… but make sure you review! Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to my reviewers! I want to tell one of them, Nor, in particular thank you! I'm a HUGE Broadway Hairspray fan and it always bugged when when people said the movie was better than the show…no way! I've seen Hairspray 4 times on Broadway and was in the front row three of those times and its just the best show ever! So thank you Nor! As for your request…don't worry ;)**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Hairspray…its depressing I know. LOL.**

**Chapter Two**

Motormouth and Penny came back from the cafeteria while Tracy and Link were still in deep conversation about both of their friends. Tracy noticed that Penny was almost completely calmed down, a little shaken still, but much better than she was and that made Tracy very happy.

"Hey Penny, want to go for a walk? I know you just took one, but…?" Tracy asked her friend. Penny nodded and the two teenage girls walked around the third floor of the hospital.

Just as Tracy was about to start conversation Penny burst out of the feelings she had been holding in.

"Oh Tracy, this is my entire fault! If I had just seen that stupid car coming he wouldn't have had to jump in and save me! Or if I was just strong enough to carry him! I could have got him here sooner! Ugh! If I didn't want to race him to Miss Maybelle's shop, we wouldn't be here! If Amber wasn't such a … a…plastic little spastic, she could have even helped!" Penny said as though she were punishing herself. She spoke very quickly it was almost hard for Tracy to understand her.

"Penny! First off, calm down, _none_ of this is your fault, the car would have been there anyway nothing could have prevented that! Secondly, what does Amber Von Tussle have to do with all of this?" she asked.

"Oh she's just horrible Tracy! She drove by in her brand new lime green car with Brenda and Shelley and they saw Seaweed on the floor and refused to help! I begged them and she said she didn't want to help him because he was smelly…or something like that! It's not fair!" Penny exclaimed. All she wanted was to see Seaweed again, know that he was alright.

"Don't worry about her right now Penny, it's not important," Tracy's mind told her otherwise though. Amber could have helped Seaweed! She wanted nothing more than to just punch the blonde into outer space with all the cooties she claims to have come from there. "Maybe you should go home for awhile. You know, get some rest because Penny," Tracy gave a chuckle and added, "you look horrendous right now".

Penny knew she was joking, as well as right. She hadn't seen herself yet but couldn't help but feel a mess.

"Gosh, how bad do I look? Be honest," Penny asked innocently.

Tracy giggled and said, "Well, you're glasses are all fogged up from your tears, your headband is about to fall out, and the hairspray is coming out from your curls so they're drooping a bit," Tracy said. Penny had actually cracked a genuine smile and both of them laughed together. Tracy led them to the bathroom and Penny washed up and Tracy managed to comb the curls out of her hair so it fell in loose waves and put the headband back where it belonged. She looked quite presentable.

The girls walked back toward the waiting area were they were before.

"Thanks for helping me Tracy, you're the best friend…ever!" she finished happily.

"Aw, Penny anytime, you've been there for me plenty of times. Heck, you even came to _watch_ me audition for the _Corny Collins Show_, now that's a true friend," Tracy smiled.

"Well, yeah I guess so but…" she stopped dead in her tracks. Tracy followed her gaze and saw a doctor talking to Motormouth and Link.

"Penny come on! He's probably got news about Seaweed!" she said grabbing Penny's arm but Penny wouldn't budge. "Come on," Tracy said.

"No! I can't! Tracy what if it's bad news? I- I won't be able to live!" Penny said starting to cry again.

Tracy looked at her friend right in the eyes.

"Penny Lou Pingleton, this is your boyfriend! He cares so much about you and I _know_ you care so much about him! It would kill Seaweed if he knew you didn't want to find out how he was. You're his "baby" remember? He's gonna want to see you first too, I bet, when he wakes up!" Tracy said, trying to get the message across that they need to find out what the doctor was talking about.

Penny nodded and both girls jogged to the doctor, Motormouth, and Link.

They arrived to Motormouth saying "Thank you, doctor," and the doctor walking away.

"Oh Miss Maybelle! What happened? Is he gonna be okay? What's going on?" Penny asked so many questions at once she caused Motormouth to laugh at her.

"Darlin' he's just fine. He's only got one tiny broken rib, but he'll make a full recovery. The doctor said he should be waking up any minute now so if we want to go visit him we should get ready, but only one at a time. I think you should be first Penny," Motormouth said.

"Oh, no Miss Maybelle! He's your son! He'd want to see you first before me! I know it! He wouldn't want to wake up to me, the person who put him in this place anways," Penny frowned.

"You look at me honey, my baby loves you. Now if you want I'll go in first but promise me you'll go in right when I'm finished alright?" she asked.

"Okay," was all Penny managed to say. With that, Motormouth went in her son's room, closed the door and left Penny, Tracy, and Link waiting.

Seaweed's Hospital Room

Motormouth got inside just as her son woke up.

"Hi baby," she said softly.

"Mama…" Seaweed said as he opened his eyes.

"You sure cause a lot of trouble for a whole lot of people, had us all scared, but none more then-"

Seaweed cut her off and finished her sentence.

"Penny," he said.

"That's right. Baby you got one loyal, yet frantic girl on your hands. It's been quite a few hours since this all happened and she hasn't stopped worrying about you, even with Tracy and Link and your Mama trying to calm her down," she said. Seaweed closed his eyes, he felt guilty for making her feel this way. But Motormouth continued. "Now, tell me what exactly happened," she asked.

"Well, all I remember is we were on our way to the record shop and she decided to race me there and so I started running and she crossed the street just as this car was coming speeding down the road. Mama, I was never more scared in my life. I thought if I waited one more second the car would have struck her! And it probably would have! So I ran and pushed her out of the way, next thing I know I wake up and your sitting here with me," he finished and put a smile on his face.

He and Motormouth chatted for another good fifteen minutes.

Motormouth left the room and told Penny she could go in.

"Go ahead honey, he's just dandy and he cannot wait to see your face. He's not on the first bed, he's behind the curtain," she said. She stood up and walked into Seaweed's room.

Penny was only half listening, she just wanted to see Seaweed. She didn't hear the part about the curtain and how Seaweed was behind it.

She walked in and saw an old woman laying there with tubes all around her. Penny gave a scream and woke the old woman up. "Seaweed! What happened to you?"

Then she heard an all too familiar laugh and heard Seaweed's voice "Over here baby,".

Penny apologized to the old woman and walked around the curtain to see her boy, her Seaweed.

"Hiya baby," he said, and he gave her the brightest smile she had ever seen.

**A/N: So? I really like writing this story and I hope you like reading it! I know this was mostly fluffy and happy go lucky with all the characters but don't worry! More drama to come! Review if you can please!**


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